Easysoft ODBC-ODBC Bridge 2.0.21a

The OOB Client is an ODBC driver which communicates with the OOB Server. The OOB Server connects to an existing ODBC driver on the server machine. It does not need to be installed on the database server.

The OOB is normally used to provide access to an ODBC driver you cannot obtain for the client platform. For example, your ODBC application needs to run on Linux but it needs to use a Microsoft ODBC driver only available on Windows.

Our customers are typically using the OOB with applications and interfaces such as Perl, Apache/PHP, Python and C to access many Windows-only ODBC drivers from Unix and Linux, including:

Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Navision

Any other database for which an ODBC driver is available.

To help you administer and control remote ODBC access, the OOB Server also offers features such as centralised configuration, management, access control and monitoring of ODBC data access.

Here are some key features of "Easysoft ODBC ODBC Bridge":

Client

· Leads you through the process of creating your first data source and shows you your remote data, during installation on Unix.
· Has built in support for installing itself into the Microsoft ODBC Driver Manager, the Open Source unixODBC Driver Manager. On Windows, OS X and platforms that support X, we provide GUI setup dialogues accessible from the ODBC Administrator that let you configure your data sources.
· Includes oobping-a program that lets you check that an OOB Server is alive, test authentication and connection to remote DSNs.
· Works seamlessly with ODBC interfaces such as Perl’s DBI/DBD::ODBC, PHP, Rexx/SQL, Python’s mxODBC.
· Has been tested with a large range of ODBC applications. Supported applications include OpenOffice.org, ApplixWare, StarOffice, Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel.
· Performs caching of SQLGetInfo results.
· Contains ODBC optimisations for fetching rows from applications not using bound columns.
· Compresses network data for maximum throughput.
· Has comprehensive tracing facilities.
· Contains a demonstration ODBC application (with source) that connects to an ODBC data source.
· Encrypts sensitive information (like connection strings which often contain passwords) passed across the network. Data can also be encrypted by passing it through an IP tunnel.
· Includes the unixODBC Driver Manager on Unix platforms and the Microsoft Driver Manager on Windows.
· Has thread-safe versions for platforms supporting threads.
· Supports fallback OOB servers to increase service availability. If the primary server is unable to service a request, fallback servers can be swapped in and out automatically without interruption of service.

Server

· Contains an HTTP Administration Server which can be used to configure, monitor and control the OOB Server.
· Uses native OS authentication to protect access to your data sources and the OOB HTTP Administration Server.
· Supports access control rules that let you restrict access to the OOB Server by user, machine or network address.
· Can protect thread-unsafe ODBC drivers when accessed from a multi-threaded application.
· Provides statistics on uptime, CPU usage, total connections, total successful connections, active connections, peak concurrent connections, time of last connect and disconnect and list of connecting clients.
· Audits connection activity to a file. Generates audit log (and native Windows event log) entries for connection attempts denied due to invalid authentication details, a connection limit or an access control rule.
· Can display a list of configured System DSNs in the HTTP Administration Server. The System DSNs are therefore visible in any Web browser.
· Can limit the total number of concurrent connections or connections from a particular client. Also logs all clients that have connected.
· Supports access control lists that let you restrict access to DSNs by user, machine or network address.
· Can restrict remote access to the HTTP Administration Server by user, machine or network address. Remote access can also be disabled entirely.
· Allows individual HTTP Administration Server pages to be password protected or disabled. For example, the pages that let you change OOB configuration settings, browse DSNs and their underlying databases.
· Allows these statistics to be exported to timestamped file: average connections per minute, connections per client.
· Rotates audit files automatically.
· Lets you view audit files in the HTTP Administration Server.
· Can provide a graphical representation of connection history and auditable events helping you identify daytime trends and plan downtime.
· Can provide data source statistics including connections per DSN and average time per connection.
· Logs failing SQL. This helps you track down who or what is failing to query your database and the reason for the failure.
· Lets you export configuration details and licenses to create backup copies. You can reduce the time taken to administer servers by importing configuration details.
· Supports multiple network interface cards. The OOB Server can either listen on one network interface or all network interfaces. The default behaviour is to listen on multiple networks.
· Provides a remote DSN explorer allowing DSN, tables, columns, and rows to be viewed in your browser. Browsing remote DSNs is useful when writing your client application on a different machine to the one on which the DSNs have been added.
· Supports process affinity on Windows. This lets you define which CPUs are available to the OOB Server process on Windows machines with multiple CPUs.
· Can enable connection pooling in the Driver Manager, reducing connection times for applications that repeatedly open and close ODBC connections.

Whats New in This Release:

· This release adds 64bit support to AIX PPC distributions.